00:00Director of the Caribbean Freedom Project, Shabaka Kambon, has been advocating for the statue's removal since 2016.
00:09He explains that what the Caribbean Freedom Project is doing reflects a global movement
00:14where victims of colonial violence are finally speaking out and rejecting the narratives imposed on them in the past.
00:22So a lot of people have been taught in Toronto and Tobago to view their past through this lens.
00:28Columbus is a hero. He was a great explorer and a navigator.
00:33And, you know, there wasn't much evil that he did.
00:36And, of course, even if he did do some evil, it was for the benefit of us all.
00:40That's the imperialist story. That's rubbish.
00:44Kambon believes the space should now be used to honour indigenous resistance or our indigenous heritage.
00:51He says his team worked closely with the First Peoples to develop the idea.
00:57Kambon also weighs in on the removal of the three ships historically associated with Christopher Columbus
01:04on the National Coat of Arms by the previous government.
01:07In the Caribbean Freedom Project, we are willing to work with everybody to ensure that people come on board.
01:12We were very disappointed, to be honest, even though we applauded Dr. Rowley for his historic removal of the three ships from the coat of arms,
01:21which, of course, made us into kind of a laughing stock across the world as we celebrated genocide on the most important national symbol.
01:30But we were disappointed that he didn't see it necessary to couple that removal with some form of education.
01:42Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
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